Tasers Trialled in Prisons Amid Concerns for Staff Safety

An assault at HMP Frankland in Durham saw three prison officers attacked with cooking oil before being stabbed.

A prison guard walks past HMP Wandsworth prison in London on July 12, 2024. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Tasers will be trialled in UK prisons to help officers manage high-risk incidents, following a violent attack involving Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland.

The trial, set to begin this summer, comes after four prison officers were injured earlier this month when Abedi attacked them with hot cooking oil and a makeshift weapon.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs on Tuesday that measures were being taken to improve staff safety in the wake of the incident.

“Wherever we can strengthen our defences to better protect our staff and the public, we will do so,” she said in the House of Commons.

Access to kitchens in separation centres—specialist units housing high-risk offenders—has been suspended while an independent review examines how these centres operate.

A separate review by the Prison and Probation Service will assess the use of protective body armour for officers.

The Prison Reform Trust welcomed the investigation, saying lessons must be learned to minimise the risk of similar incidents occurring in future.

Abedi has been convicted of murder for the encouraging and helping of his brother Salman blow himself up at the Manchester Arena in 2017 following an Ariana Grande concert.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 55 years in prison.

Hashem Abedi in an undated handout image. Greater Manchester Police/PA

“I know full well the dangers of the warped ideology of Islamist extremists. I will not tolerate it within our prisons,” Mahmood added.

She has confirmed that 19 reviews into extremism in prisons had been conducted over the past nine years, resulting in 230 recommendations. An audit will now be carried out to ensure those recommendations have been implemented.

Talks With Union Amid Safety Fears

Mahmood met with representatives from the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) on Wednesday after the union raised concerns over staff safety following the attack at HMP Frankland.

The POA national chair Mark Fairhurst told The Epoch Times the union would press the case for improved protections “very forcefully.”

“The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) have ignored our members for decades. They have dismissed the POA’s calls for action to address the crisis in our prisons but they cannot ignore us any longer.

“We need urgent action to ensure prison officers working in the UK’s jails are safe and treated with the dignity and respect we deserve,” said Fairhurst.

The POA described the attack at HMP Frankland as a stark reminder of the dangers faced by officers “on a daily basis.”

According to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures, there were 10,496 assaults on staff in the 12 months to September 2024—a rate of 120 assaults per 1,000 prisoners.

This marks a 19 percent increase compared to the previous year, with serious assaults on staff rising by 22 percent.

Prison officers are currently equipped with protective gloves, vests, personal alarms, and restraints as standard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Higher-level defensive tools are restricted to specialist teams.

PAVA incapacitant spray was introduced across prisons in 2018.

Fairhurst argued that current PPE provisions current provisions are insufficient for dealing with violent offenders.

“Prison officers have to deal with some of the most violent criminals and terrorists in the country, the current provision of PPE extends to a baton and some PAVA spray, nothing else. This is wholly inadequate.

“Prison officers need to be provided with equipment that genuinely protects them this includes where appropriate stab vests and Tasers,” he said.

However, Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, warned against increasing the use of defensive weapons.

“Staff in adult prisons already have access to batons and PAVA spray. And yet, we know from previous findings that staff use of weapons does not reduce violence, and undermines positive relationships between staff and those in prison,” he told The Epoch Times.

Neilson added that addressing violence required investment in rehabilitation.

“Rather than adding to the pressure in overcrowded and overstretched prisons, the best response to rising levels of violence is to offer productive and positive regimes, that see people in prison getting access to work, education and other rehabilitative activities,” he said.

Prison Estate Crisis

Figures published on April 14 show the prison population in England and Wales has reached 88,081, leaving just 961 spaces available across the estate.

Fairhurst said overcrowding fuels tensions, violence, substance misuse, and self-harm across prisons.

“We have repeatedly raised concerns about overcrowding and understaffing but nothing has been done. And we have raised major concerns about the condition of the prison estate and squalor our members and the prisoners we look after experience as a result of a failed model of privatised prison maintenance, again dismissed.

“It shouldn’t have taken the appalling terror attack at Frankland for government ministers and the MoJ to start listening to prison officers on the frontline,” he said.

The POA highlighted that both overcrowding and understaffing were key factors contributing to unsafe environments.

“Where you have too many prisoners and not enough staff, prisoners’ access to education, recreation, visits, healthcare etc. is restricted and the ability of staff to work with them to build positive relationships with them is curtailed.

“This results in boredom, increased violence and drug misuse,” Fairhurst said.

Government Measures

The prison population is set to reach between 95,700 and 105,200 by March 2029, with a central estimate of 100,800 inmates.

The MoJ said the increase is being driven by higher charging rates, greater prosecutorial activity and changes to sentencing policies aimed at keeping serious offenders in custody for longer.

In response, the government has pledged to deliver 14,000 new prison places—a commitment originally made by the previous administration.

An independent review of sentencing has also been commissioned to ensure capacity keeps pace with demand.

To address immediate pressures, ministers have introduced early release schemes.

In July, Mahmood announced plans to reduce the proportion of Standard Determinate Sentences served in custody from 50 to 40 percent. Thousands of inmates have been released since September under the policy.

Another measure to ease pressure on the prison estate involves accelerating the deportation of foreign national offenders, who make up approximately 12 percent of the prison population.

Officials say the move will help relieve capacity constraints and save taxpayers millions of pounds.